History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c90.168.1

v7.c90.168.1

Then we come to the Viṣṇudharmottara. The only printed edition is that of the Veṅk Press. It is a vast work divided into three sections. The first deals with geography, solar and lunar dynasties, astronomy and astrology, gotra and pravara, śrāddhas, Manvantaras, Bharata's fight with Gandharvas and Śatrughna's with Lavaṇa. The 2nd section deals with various aspects of Rāja-dharma and the third section of the Purāṇa deals with Citrasūtra-vidhāna and contains several topics such as painting, dancing, music, song, rasas, riddles, dramaturgy, metrics, figures of speech, construction of images, building of temples, symptoms of approaching death, gifts of various kinds, law and justice, hermits and sannyāsins. On p. 212 Dr. Hazra places this Purāṇa between 400-500 A.D. Reasons of limitations of space preclude any detailed criticism of Prof Hazra's treatment. In III. 351.54 Buddha is mentioned as an avatāra which Prof Hazra says is 'most probably spurious' (p. 212) and advances no reasons for this summary judgment. He puts in his usual argument of its non-Tantric¹⁴¹¹ character and frequent use of the word prādurbhāva and not 'avatāra' which latter, he says, occurs in two places only. Prof. Hazra often attaches undue importance to insignificant details Whether the word 'prādurbhāva' is used or 'avatāra' is used matters little. The same Purāṇa uses both words promiscuously e. g. Narasiṁha (36. 1, 'avatārānaham vakṣye') begins with the word 'avatāra' and in 39.